Monday, October 4, 2010

College Athletics Beat

The beat I plan to cover is student-athletes around the world and the politics that go hand in hand with their college experience. Every college student has to balance their social life while trying to maintain their GPA's, but for college athletes the pressures and time they put in could possibly outweigh the benefits.

The events that I am going to cover are those around DU. Being a student-athlete myself I am able to interview almost anyone in the athletic department and get as much information as I can on events, players, and most importantly politics that are associated with student-athletes.

One of the biggest political battles that surround college athletics today is money. Wherever there is money there is often a political debate on how that money is used. In my research I plan to find out where most of the DU student-athlete money goes and how much fundraising they do each year to support their team financially or if they have any of those obligations. Although my research is targeted at Denver athletics, I am also focusing on scholarship money throughout the NCAA's and how much money collectively individual schools and teams spend per year on just their specific sport.

Another aspect I plan to look at is stereotypes and treatments that come with being one of "elite." Whether it be special treatment of players or actions associated with college athletes, I plan to examine why these stereotypes and treatments exist and how they effect the players.